Recently, there has been a lot of talk about sustainability and the efforts around campus to promote it. However, sustainability is rarely explained or even shown around campus. Many people are left in the dark not knowing what exactly the university is doing to become sustainable.
A UNH community development class recently explored sustainability and what part it takes at the university.
Over the past hundred years, there has been a dramatic shift in how America looks at its food. Before the industrial revolution, subsistence farming was the primary source of food. As food production increased, thanks to new methods and machinery, a new food industry appeared. Before this shift, most food was locally grown within the community. But, as farms grew larger, because of the need to keep up with increasing costs associated with running a farm, the community that was built around food slowly vanished.
However, local farming is making a comeback at UNH in the form of the Organic Garden Club. The Organic Garden Club is promoting sustainability. According to Mary Gold, the author of "Sustainable Agriculture," sustainability is "a way of practicing agriculture which seeks to optimize skills and technology to achieve long-term stability of the agricultural enterprise, environmental protection, and consumer safety."
UNH's Organic Garden Club was established in 2003 through collaboration with Students Without Borders and the Parents Association. The OGC is a student-run organization that maintains a two-acre organic farm on Spinney Lane, just off the Mast Road parking lot.
According to the Office of Sustainability's website, the OGC's mission is "to cultivate a campus-community organic farm focused on promoting social, economic, and environmental sustainability." This mission is reflected in the club's goals: maintaining a sustainable farm, providing locally grown produce to the community, offering hands-on educational opportunities, and increasing local awareness of sustainable living.
Sustainable agriculture produces food without depleting the earth's resources or polluting the environment. Each year, the organic garden is subjected to testing to determine adherence to the USDA organic certification criteria. Foremost of these tests are those performed on soil and water for the presence of fertilizers and/or pesticides. Organic agriculture eliminates the use of synthetics by increasing on-farm nutrient cycling.
To keep the soil nutrient-rich, the OGC practices crop rotation and encourages biodiversity with the use of resistant cultivars that inhibit weeds, disease and insect problems. Soil erosion is observed through the natural flow of water on the garden. By altering the placement of the plant-rows, the OGC deployed terracing techniques to keep runoff of precious water resources at bay. Most of the actual farming, or planting, is done by hand which keeps tillage at a minimum.
To protect the land during the harsh New England winters, the OGC plants red clover and other winter hibernates that keep the ravages of freezing winds and snow to a minimum. Low impact to the natural environment limits exposure to the elements and helps the soil retain nutrients and moisture.
As well as being able to maintain an organic farm, the Organic Garden Club also sells its produce to the university dining halls, the Durham Market Place, and at a stand in Spaulding Courtyard on Wednesdays during the growing season.
One of the purchasers, Holloway Commons, helped the Organic Garden Club by donating money to their startup costs and has been purchasing their produce ever since. Although it is more financially beneficial to purchase products from large distributors, the Organic Garden Club has worked out compromises on prices to keep them competitive. Even though it is still overall a more expensive fee, John Plodzik, associate director of Dining Services, said, "We appreciate the work and dedication they put into their club, so we don't generally mind paying a higher price for a good cause."
However, the Organic Garden Club, though a dedicated supplier, cannot provide all of the produce for the dining halls. Therefore, dining services does their part to help promote local agriculture beyond the Organic Garden Club. UNH dining halls purchase many of their products from local farms such as cage-free eggs from Madison, N.H. and locally produced honey.
The dining halls, as well as other local businesses, do their part to help OGC by recycling leftover food scraps. Holloway in particular takes its leftover food scraps from the dining halls, emulsifies them, and gives the food to the organic garden for composting. Holloway also recycles its old vegetable oil by using it as biodiesel to run the UNH buses.
Although purchasing local foods is only a small part of what the university is doing to become sustainable, it is very clear that there are large efforts going on that promote a more sustainable lifestyle around campus.
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